US vs UK: my thoughts on some food differneces

I never imagined that I would be given the incredible opportunity to stay in the UK for a long period of time so I didn’t know much about the people and culture other than that they have beautiful accents, drink tea and London is incredible. But, I learned some interesting differences whilst being here and have to share with you all.

Food, this is the biggest difference in my eyes. Similar to Europe, in the UK they eat a lot of carbs. The potatoes here are amazing and the vegetable and produce is so fresh. Most restaurant use the concept of farm to table which isn’t always seen in the US. Although you’re overloading in carbs, at least you know they are fresh. Less bad for you right? HA (I wish!)

I don’t eat chicken in the US, or at least very rarely, but here the chicken is SO tasty. It tastes so different, so “real”. I can’t explain it, but it’s so good.

Grocery stores have ready to go meals. Hmmm this is what saves my life. Every time I need dinner I go to Waitrose supermarket and find their ready to go selection. I choose based on calorie content and macros, which are all listed. This is a great way to stay on track and not gain so much weight; you can eat delicious meals but know how much calories and the nutritional content in each item you’re consuming.

Tea with everything. I knew about this but didn’t know that you add milk to your tea? This makes it so much similar to chai… and now my new favorite! There are so many different types of teas. My new favorite is vanilla and rose – it’s lovely.

Sweets and more and more sweets. Every time a co worker goes on lunch break they bring back sweets. I seriously would gain 100 pounds if I lived here forever. How do people do it?

The food portions are HUGE. It could feed an army, but it’s so good that you just want to eat it all until you realize that it has the caloric content worth your entire week.

Food here is so much cheaper than in the US. Or I should say than in Miami. They have “combo” deals for everything; breakfast, lunch, tea time, dinner. For lunch, the combo is 1 baked good (pizza, pie, quiche, rice and spinach tart) + 1 salad (greens, or potatoes and green beans, coleslaw) + coffee or tea for 5.95 pounds (USD$8.00). That’s so cheap! I could never get all that in Miami. For dinner, you can get an appetizer and an entre (huge portion) for USD$11.00.

Avocado toast is also popular here! But instead of slicing the avocados they tend to make it into guacamole… stay tasty, but different!

I will probably do a “post UK diet” post when I get back to the US… I think it will be needed! Stay tuned for more!